In this series, Juliette Sivertsen interviews people who live and breathe wellbeing. This week, she talks to Tamara Waugh, founder of The Happiness Experiment, a trustee on the HELP Foundation board and avid
The Happiness Experiment: What is happiness?
Being known as the "happiness chick who works in mental health", I used to think that if I was down or unwell or just not able to show up 100 per cent, that I needed to take myself away to a little cave, until I could be what I thought people saw me as or what they needed me to be. Identity has been a big suitcase of bouncy balls that I felt was luggage to carry around and present to people. It is not. It is everything that I was, everything that I am now and everything I am becoming.
Authenticity is my bag now. There is such relief in that. I am no longer afraid of all the parts of me I wanted to hide. Nowadays as much as I can, I am honest and open if I am feeling a little "wobbly" or "out of sorts" or just downright flat. I set boundaries so that I may operate in any space my head might be in. I look after myself and give me what I need.